Friday 18 March 2016

Apple engineers could walk away from FBI’s iPhone demands

Should the FBI prevail in getting Apple to offer a backdoor for an encrypted iPhone, the agency may have trouble getting anyone to build it.

At least that’s the word from several current and former Apple employees—including security engineers—who spoke anonymously to the New York Times. Some said they’re refuse to do the work, or quit their jobs if necessary, rather than create what they believe is a major security compromise for all users.

Apple is currently appealing a U.S. District Court order to build a separate version of iOS that would allow the FBI to unlock one particular iPhone 5c. The FBI wants access to the phone of Syed Rizwan Farook, one of the shooters responsible for killing 14 people and injuring 22 others in San Bernadino last December. With iOS 8 and higher, unsuccessfully guessing the phone’s password too many times automatically erases the phone’s data, so the FBI wants Apple to load a separate version that allows unlimited brute force password attempts.

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